


Hey, You

by starsandwristrockets



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Complete, Gen, Oneshot, Post Season 3, Season 3, Season 3 Spoilers, Wingwoman, friendship fluff, in which robin plays wingwoman for steve, wingman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 01:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19713664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsandwristrockets/pseuds/starsandwristrockets
Summary: [Oneshot] Steve's attempt to find common ground with Robin's taste in girls turns into an opportunity for her to teach him a lesson in romantics.





	Hey, You

_"_ _Hey, you / You're not the only one who needs something to do / Sometimes you have to see another point of view / Oh, you"_

—Good Morning, You

"What about Amy Carpenter?"

"Huh... maybe. She's hot, but she's one of those girls where I can't tell if I like her or if I want to look like her."

"Fair enough. Becky Hilbourn?"

Robin's face twisted, and it wasn't because of the inexplicable stickiness she was trying to clean off one of the VHS cases. _"Ugh._ No, never."

"You can't be serious," said Steve, leaning against the front counter of Family Video. They'd only been working here a month, and already he was starting to slack. "Have you seen her legs?"

"Sure, and they're great, but talking to her is about as exciting as watching paint dry."

Steve tilted his head, considering this a moment. "So?"

 _"_ _So,_ that doesn't turn you off? You don't want something more substantial than that?"

Steve sighed. "At this point, I take what I can get."

"Oh, I know," Robin assured. "It emanates off you. _Emanates,_ dingus. And that is why girls aren't interested. We can smell desperation a mile away."

"You think I don't know that?" He shakes his head. "I need to learn to take my own advice: act like you don't care."

 _"_ _Act like you don't care?"_ Robin chuckled. There was a huge difference between not caring and not seeming desperate. "That really worked for you?"

"Sure. Worked for Dustin, too. He got Suzie, didn't he?"

She was really laughing now. "Something tells me—and by something I mean that song they sang over the walkie talkie—that he cares very deeply, and she knows all too well."

But Steve didn't look half so amused.

She took to surveying the store, spotted a girl not too far, skimming the recent releases. Robin had seen her in here before. She was about their age, always put items back where she found them, and now wore a Ringo Starr t-shirt.

"See that girl over there?" Robin said, gesturing with a jerk of her chin.

"Yeah. What about her?"

"She's cute, dingus." She grabbed a stack of movies from underneath the counter. "You listen to the Beatles?"

Steve's brow furrowed, still not completely following. "Sure, everyone does. But I wouldn't say my favorite is _Ringo Starr..."_

"That's exactly what everyone else loves about him," said Robin, shoving the movies into his hands. "Here's what you're going to do. You're going to go over there and put a couple movies back like you're simply minding your business and doing your job like the valued employee you are. Then, you're going to tell her you like her shirt. She'll say thanks, and you'll walk away."

"Walk away?"

Robin nodded.

"But what does that—"

"Just walk away, dingus. Trust me. What do you have to lose?"

"Okay," he finally said. "Okay. I'm going in."

"Let's see it."

On his way over, Steve glanced back only once. Robin offered her most reassuring smile.

Nonchalantly, he placed a few movies back where they belonged and began heading toward the sci-fi section with the rest, but not without passing the girl and telling her, "I like your shirt."

She glanced down at it, then back up at him. Her lips curved into a polite smile. "Thanks," she said, just as Robin had called it.

Then, exactly as instructed, he walked right past her. Robin held her breath, counted his paces, waited for it. Right before he turned down the next aisle, the girl called, "Hey, you."

He pivoted back on his heel, his brows peaked in interest.

"You work here?"

"Yeah." He ran nervous fingers through the front of his hair.

She holds up the two movies in her hands for him to see. "Which one?"

"Saint Elmo's Fire," he answered immediately. "Usually, you can't go wrong with John Hughes, but Weird Science is… _really_ weird."

"Really?" Her face lit up and she flipped the case over in her fingers as if his determent had made her that much more interested.

"Yeah, but if you're into that you should check out Back to the Future."

Her eyes widened. "I saw that when it came out. I can't believe that kid used time travel to try and screw his mom."

"Oh, my god, I know," said Steve. "Who comes up with that?"

"Right?" she laughed, placing Saint Elmo's fire back on the shelf. She studied the case of Weird Science again and explained, "I don't mind weird."

Steve smirked. "Yeah, _normal_ isn't all that great."

Robin smiled to herself, too, content with her work. Already, it was going better than anything she'd ever seen from him. She got back ringing out customers and marking sale items.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Steve walked the girl to the register and cashed her out himself.

"Thanks for the recommendation," she said.

"Yeah, anytime," he told her, and then watched in a trance as she walked out of the store, the bells chiming over her head. It wasn't until the door sighed shut behind her that a dreadful realization washed over Steve's face. "Shit."

"What?" Robin asked, stickering new movie cases.

Steve continued staring at the door. "I didn't get her number. I forgot to even ask."

"That's good," assured Robin, and he shot her a look. "Seriously, dingus. That's good."

"How?"

"We work at a video _rental_ store."

"What does that have to do with it?" Steve asked, still not getting it.

Robin huffed. "That has _everything_ to do with it. That means she'll go home and watch that movie, and while she's watching that movie she'll be thinking about you and what you said. And after, she has no choice but to come back to return that movie, and that is when you'll ask if she liked it. The two of you will get to talking again, giving you the opportunity to ask if she would want to go with you to see something similar in theaters over the weekend."

"Robin," Steve said.

"Yes?"

"You're a genius."

Robin laughed, got back to her task. "Don't thank me yet. I know a lot about girls because I am one, not because I've ever dated anyone."

Steve shrugged. "Maybe this is a chance for both of us. I mean, this girl has got to have friends, right? I can put in a good word."

Robin chuckled, shook her head at the dingus, but sure enough, she would prove herself right.

The next day, the bells chimed over the door. From her spot organizing a nearby shelf, Robin watched Steve's girl walk in, movie in hand, and beeline straight to the counter where Steve stood behind the register, flipping through an inventory binder. He looked up, raked the hair away from his face with his fingers, and possibility sparked behind his wide eyes.

"Hey, you."

**Author's Note:**

> I adored Robin's character this season, and especially her friendship with Steve. I knew I had to write something for them.
> 
> Titled after the song "You" by Good Morning, loosely inspired by that episode of Drake and Josh where Drake's mom gives Josh dating advice.


End file.
